Some Random Thoughts
It hurts when your friends
pass away (even those on television). Chris Candido
died on 04.28.05 at the age of 33 in his home in Matawan, NJ. Candido was a
former WWE and ECW world tag team champion and WCW cruiserweight champion.
TNA dedicated several pages of its website to the memory of Candido including
having his picture alone on the main page for three days. The WWE dedicated a
page highlighting his career and titles won and aired his picture for merely
fifteen seconds (not cool at all). Several other websites and promotions paid
their respects to Candido.
Continuing the topic of
wrestling heroes who are no longer with us, April is the month we remember
"Ravishing" Rick Rude
who died in 1999 of a heart attack.
World Wrestling Entertainment
The WWE started April with
the Wrestlemania 21 extravaganza (04.03.05). John Cena won the WWE title from
JBL and Dave Batista won the world heavyweight title from Triple H. These two
matches seem to reflect Vince McMahon's position on the future of the WWE after
mentioning in an interview that Cena and Batista are two key players in the WWE.
Wrestlemania included the return of Stone Cold and a live presentation by rock
legends Motorhead.
As in previous years,
Wrestlemania started with a series of events including the WWE Hall of Fame
induction ceremony. This year's inductees were the Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff,
Jimmy Hart, Bob Orton, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff,
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper who is a member of the NWA Championship Committee
(TNA); and Hulk Hogan who was inducted by Sylvester Stallone (04.02.05).
Former WWF wrestler George
"The Animal" Steele will be inducted in the Professional Wrestling
Hall of Fame. The induction dinner and ceremony will be held on 05.21.05 at the
Cliff Side Restaurant in Amsterdam, NY.
The WWE released Rhyno, Matt
Hardy and Aaron Aguilera (known in the WWE as Jesus, Carlito's sidekick). Hardy
might go to TNA to work with his brother again. Aguilera was released due to an
injury preventing him from ever returning to a full-time schedule.
For the past three months, I
have criticized the portrayal and storyline
of Muhammed Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. The WWE is hypocrite and irresponsible
selling the Hassan and Daivari storyline after spending the holidays with the
American troops in Iraq for two years (2003
and 2004). The
WWE should stop this storyline immediately. It often looks like a mockery of
those murdered on 09.11.01. It is insulting and simply stupid. It can't be
compared to the 1980's Cold War era when the WWF had the Iron Sheik (from Iran)
and Nikolai Volkoff (from Russia) who were on of the best tag teams. Although
they were hated for their anti-American storyline, they were respected.
Nora Greenwald (known in the
WWE as Molly Holly and in WCW as Ms Madness on Mona) has been released from the
WWE.
The WWE is moving back to the
USA Network
this summer. I hope that this doesn't mean no RAW on Monday nights because of
the The US Open
or the stupid dog shows as it happened in the 1990's.
Total Non-Stop Action
Chris Candido, who suffered a
broken leg during a match on 04.24.05 (Lockdown PPV) died on 04.28.05 at the age
of 33 (1972-2005) due to a blood clot as result of complication during his leg
surgery. He was part of the Impact tapings on 04.26.05, on which he helped The
Naturals win the tag team championship from America's Most Wanted. Since Candido
had just signed with TNA,
I kept hoping that the Triple Threat
(with Shane Douglas and Bam Bam Bigelow) would be reunited.
The fight between
Cablevision
and Time Warner Cable
continues. This means no FSN
and Impact form more than two months.
At least, I can watch the highlights on XPlosion on channel 94
(Time Warner Cable
special programming) although the quality of signal is often weak and breaks
down.
There have been three feuds
brewing in the past month or rather since the Destination X PPV,
which were taken care of as usual at the monthly PPV. On the Lockdown PPV
(04.24.05), "Primetime" Elix Skipper challenged his former tag team
partner Christopher Daniels for the X-Division championship, but Daniels kept
his title. Dustin Rhodes beat Bobby Roode. Diamond Dallas Page, Sean Waltman and
BG James beat Jeff Jarrett, The Outlaw and Monty Brown.
In the past three months,
Sean Waltman has gotten more air time than any other current TNA wrestler, but
not at TNA programming. He was in one episode of The Surreal Life 4 that has
been aired several times on VH1.
Unfortunately for Waltman, his portrayal is not something that he can be proud
of. Waltman made a fool of himself.
There are rumors that TNA is
losing money and its investors are losing their patience.
These same rumors point at Dusty Rhodes
as the reason for the promotion not doing well. TNA is also said to be near
signing a deal with WGN,
as originally planned
before signing a deal with FSN.
My problem with WGN
is that Time Warner Cable
doesn't carry this channel.
Former UFC
Champion Tito Ortiz has signed with TNA to be the special referee in the match
for the NWA world championship between Jeff Jarrett and AJ Styles on the Hard
Justice PPV (05.15.05).
Border City Wrestling
The following are the
results sent by Border City Wrestling for the Nobody's Fool show on 04.15.05 at
Hellenic Banquet Halls in Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada. Phil Atlas and Jimmy
Jacobs beat Geza Kalman, Jr. and Johnny Bravo with Jimmy Trump and "Smooth
Mover" Chris Pillon. JT Playa pinned Cody Steele. Eddie Venom defeated Jon
Bolen. N8 Mattson and Danny Daniels with Jennifer retained the BCW tag team
titles against Tyson Dux and Gutter. Petey Williams became the number one
contender to the BCW TV Title, defeating El Reverso, Josh Abercrombie and
"Dangerboy" Derek Wylde in a fatal four-way. Brad Martin pinned Conrad
Kennedy III (CK3). BCW TV Champion Chris Sabin NC Amazing Red. Kris Chambers and
Shantelle defeated Alex Shelley and Jaime D. Sean Waltman and Scott D'Amore
defeated Joe Doering and BCW Heavyweight Champion "Mr. Class" A-1 with
Jade, with "The Franchise" Shane Douglas as the guest referee.
The following are the
results sent by Border City Wrestling/primetime Wrestling results for the
04.17.05 show at Diamondback Saloon in Belleville, Michigan. Tyson Dux and
Gutter beat Johnny Bravo and Dyson Pryce. Jon Bolen pinned Joe Doering. Conrad
Kennedy III (CK3) beat Brad Martin. Petey Williams beat Chris Sabin and Alex
Shelley in a three-way dance to become the new BCW TV Champion. Tianna pinned
Jaime D Eddie Venom defeated Josh Abercrombie. N8 Mattson and Danny Daniels
retained the BCW Tag Team Titles over Phil Atlas and Jimmy Jacobs. "The
Alpha Male" Monty Brown pinned Sean Waltman. BG James and The Outlaw
defeated Tritan and BCW Heavyweight Champion "Mr. Class" A-1 with
Jade.
The next show will be on
05.27.05, back at the beautiful Hellenic Banquet Halls. Already announced for
this event are former TNA X-Division Champion Amazing Red, and former WWE
Superstar Al Snow.
Real Pro Wrestling
For the past month or so,
I have watched RPW on PAX TV,
channel 31 on Sundays at 4:00 PM. Just like ECW
did before the creation of PAX TV
(late August 1998), RPW buys the air time as an infomercial.
RPW is an interesting mix of
NCAA-sanctioned wrestling and WWE showmanship. Wrestlers are members of teams
although fighting individually. Wrestlers win via submission or points and fight
on a mat, not in a wrestling ring. Although there is more sportsmanship in RPW,
it is too slow for my taste and patience (rather lack of). For sportsmanship, I
prefer watching UFC.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The UFC had the finale for The
Ultimate Fighter competition (SpikeTV,
04.09.05). On the middleweight final, Diego Sanchez beat Kenny Florian in the
first round by knockout. On the light heavyweight final, Forrest Griffin beat
Stephan Bonnar in one of the best UFC fights ever. Both Griffin and Sanchez won
several prices that included a contract with the UFC. Although Bonnar lost to
Griffin, Bonnar was also awarded a contract with the UFC. On the main event,
Rich Franklin beat UFC legend Ken Shamrock.
The Ultimate Fighter finale
was a week before UFC 52 (04.16.05). Ultimate Fighter trainers (Chuck Liddell
and Randy Couture) had their rematch from their UFC 43 fight for the UFC light
heavyweight title (06.06.03). Liddell defeated Couture with a knockout for the
UFC light heavyweight title at last.
The UFC is accepting
applications for the second season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Former UFC Champion Tito
Ortiz has signed with TNA. He
might be done with the UFC.
| 
